A little port anyone?
NATO is benefiting from access to strategically significant ports in Europe, including the small but important port of Alexandroupolis in Greece, while Russia contemplates losing access to the deep-water port at Tartus in Syria, a key port for the Soviet Navy since 1971.
Access to strategic ports has always been a deciding factor in the success or failure of powerful states. As far back as the Archaic period in Greece, the period in Greek history lasting from 800 BC to the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC, the city state of Athens grew in strength and influence by ensuring its maritime force had access to a network of ports across the Aegean and the Mediterranean Sea.
When, in 600 BC after a successful war against Megara, Athens took possession of the island of Salamis, the rocky outcrop in the Saronic Gulf which allowed the safe use of the natural harbour of Piraeus near Athens, the stage was set for a long run of naval expansion that heralded the cultural and political zenith of Athenian civilisation – a time of enlightenment that gave birth to democracy and western civilisation or enabled an age of hubris and ruthless imperialism, depending on your point of view.
Today, as NATO’s Exercise Steadfast Dart 2025, (Ex STDT25) draws to a successful conclusion, the importance of access to strategic ports is once again in the spotlight.
The multi-domain exercise across land, sea, air, space and cyber, sponsored by Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), showcased the new Allied Reaction Force and the rapid deployability of thousands of military personnel to NATO’s Eastern flank, by land, air and sea, exploiting a network of ports in Europe.
Marchwood Military Port, also known as the Sea Mounting Centre Marchwood, has played a a crucial role in aiding allied victories since the Second World War. As part of the mounting and deployment phase of STDT25, around 450 vehicles belonging to 7th Light Mechanised Brigade were loaded roll on roll off ferries from the Sea Mounting Centre Marchwood in Southampton UK, currently the base of 17 Port & Maritime Regiment Royal Logistic Corps. The port was built in 1943 to aid the Normandy landings in 1944 and was an important asset during the Falkland’s War.
10 days later, the vehicles were off loaded at the Port of Alexandroupolis in Greece, a strategically important port that was founded in 1872, three years after the Suez Canal became operational. (Although the ancient historian Herodotus mentions it was a thriving port in 5th century BC, known as Sale.)
Their crews travelled separately by air and link up with the vehicles in the port city before driving through Bulgaria to to reach the exercise area, known as Vigilance Area (South-East).
Vehicles belonging to the Logistics Support Group, part of 102 Operational Sustainment Brigade also left Marchwood but arrived at the Port of Emden in Germany, a deep water port at the mouth of the River Ems to the North Sea. Like other north German ports, including Cuxhaven and Bremerhaven, Emden is an important resource allowing NATO to rapidly deliver military equipment to Europe.
Drivers and support teams travelled separately from Dover and then moved on to Bucharest, transiting through five Convoy Support Centres, established in advance by 104 Theatre Sustainment Brigade, altogether including nearly 1000 personnel.
NATO’s increasing reliance on its secure ports network is happening at the same time as Russia is facing the prospect of losing access to the deep water port in Tartus in Syria – a key asset which has allowed it to shadow NATO forces in the region without hindrance. All Russia’s warships have already left the port and there is a very real chance that it won’t be able to negotiate a return with the new government in Syria.
Russia has already lost access to other important sea routes and is struggling to work around the enduring closure of the Turkish Straits to its warships as long as the war in Ukraine continues.
Even its key port of Sevastapol in Crimea is a shadow if its former self. According to reports last year, confirmed by satellite images, the Russian navy’s Black Sea Fleet moved most of its combat-ready
warships from the harbour to other locations to avoid further attacks by Kyiv. Ukraine’s navy chief, Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa said Ukrainian missile and naval drone strikes had caused heavy damage to the Sevastopol base, a logistics hub for repairs, maintenance, training and ammunition storage among other important functions for Russia, as reported by Reuters.
But Russian regrets may be particularly acute when it comes to the small Greek Aegean port of Alexandroupolis, located close to the Bulgarian and Turkish borders, which is key to NATO movement and plays a pivotal part in Exercise Steadfast Dart.
Russia had spent years building bridges with the authorities in Alexandroupolis, a city in Greek Thrace with a population of around 72,000 people.
According to a report by Aris Marghelis, published in August 2024 in the journal of the Fondation pour le recherche strategique, FRS, https://www.frstrategie.org/en/publications/notes/port-alexandroupolis-strategic-and-geopolitical-assessment-2024
‘From the 2010s onwards, Russia sought to secure its access to the Balkans and hinder American presence where possible. Alexandroupolis fitted neatly into this picture. The Russians endeavoured to gain footing in the city through a multi-dimensional soft power strategy involving the local administrative, economic, cultural, educational and spiritual authorities.’
Russia’s influence dramatically waned following the annexation of Crimea and the determination of the US to ensure that they had influence in the region. Ms Marghelis states: ‘In 2016, the US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt – a vocal supporter of the Maidan movement (2014) – was transferred to Athens, before returning to the United States in 2022 as Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources. It was during his mandate in Greece that Alexandroupolis evolved into the maritime pivot of the vertical energy and military corridor aimed at deterring and containing Russia along the EU’s eastern flank; to take his own words, “[t]his was a region which, when I arrived in Greece in 2016, seemed somewhat forgotten. This is no longer the case.’
It may not have quite the vital importance of Piraeus for the Athenian City State of 5th century BC, but the port of Alexandroupolis has now emerged as a logistic and military hub which is a key part of NATO’s deterrence strategy towards Russia – a win for NATO while Russia contemplates what might have been.
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